ALASKA  BASKETRY 


BY 

V.  V.  GAVANA 


BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

•0 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


Alaska  Basketry 


BY 

V.  V.  CAVANA 


PRIVATELY    PRINTED 

BY    THE 

BEAVER    CLUB    OF    OREGON 

PORTLAND,    OREGON 

1917 


First   Publication 


COPYRIGHT,  1917 
By  the  BEAVER  CLUB   OF   OREGON 


One  Hundred  and  Two  Copies  Printed — This  Copy  is  No.. 


DAVID  STARR  JORDAN,  Honorary 

FREDERICK  WOODWARD  SKIFF 

CHARLES  HARTSON  LEADBETTER 

JOHN  RAYMOND  WESTERVELT 

JOHN  FONERDEN  WORCESTER 

DEAN  COLLINS 

EDWARD  SAMUEL  REYNOLDS 

HOWARD  VAUGHN  FISHER 

GEORGE  MARTIN  ALLEN 

CHARLES  SIMPSON  WEST 

JOHN  TYUS  HOTCHKISS 

ROBERT  AUDREY  MILLER 


Introduction 

Declaring  itself  to  the  public  through  this,  its  first 
publication,  the  Beaver  Club  seeks  to  place  itself  in  that 
group  of  idealists  that  not  only  believes  in  dreams,  but 
also  believes  that  by  patient,  sincere  and  reverent  effort, 
dreams  may  be  made  to  come  true. 

There  is  a  dream  that  many  have  held  and  toward 
the  realization  of  which  many  have  labored — and  it  is  the 
dream  of  a  thing  made  glorious  through  the  patient,  per 
ceiving  labor  of  those  who  produce  it.  To  such  a  vision, 
and  to  the  manifold  works  that  have  been  done  in  the 
striving  towards  its  realization,  the  world  owes  the  most 
of  whatever  it  can  boast  which  is,  beyond  all  else,  rare 
and  lovely  and  infinitely  to  be  desired. 

In  its  present  and  future  work,  the  Beaver  Club  hopes 
to  add,  from  Oregon,  from  the  Pacific  Northwest,  a  dis 
tinctive  and  valuable  contribution  to  humanity's  store  of 
things  rare  and  beautiful  and,  as  nearly  as  possible,  per 
fect.  The  perfection  sought  is  not  the  infinitely  redupli 
cated  perfection  that  comes  through  the  infallible  accuracy 
of  machines,  but  the  perfection  that  comes  through  con 
scious  and  zealous  artistic  effort  of  persons  inspired  by 
a  desire  to  attain  to  a  high  and  sweet  ideal. 

The  books  of  the  Beaver  Club  possibly  may  never 
come  to  be  loved  and  sought  after  because  they  are  the 
most  beautiful  of  their  kind  in  the  world;  but  the  Beaver 
Club  hopes  to  make  them  appreciatively  beautiful  to  the 
world  because  their  production  is  to  the  Club,  above  every 
thing  else,  a  labor  of  profound  love. 

It  is  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  Club  that  its 
first  publication  should  be  Miss  Cavana's  monograph  upon 
Alaska  Indian  basketry;  for  her  studies  in  this  subject 
have  been  quite  as  sincere  a  labor  of  love  for  her,  as  the 


labor  we  have  undertaken  in  launching  the  series  of  rare 
publications  of  which  this  is  the  first. 

Miss  Cavana  went  to  Alaska  in  1897  and  lived  for 
six  years  in  the  heart  of  the  basket-producing  districts, 
and  during  her  life  in  Alaska  she  pursued  a  study  of  this 
art,  then  beginning  to  show  only  the  first  signs  of  dete 
rioration,  at  first  hand  among  traders,  officials,  Indians, 
squaw  men — anywhere  that  information  might  be  secured 
that  would  be  of  a  valuable  nature. 

Indian  basketry,  by  the  very  nature  of  things,  is 
slipping  rapidly  into  the  category  of  those  arts  whose 
products  must  have,  besides  their  natural  beauty,  the 
added  charm  of  growing  rarity;  and  this  brings  the  sub 
ject  still  more  strikingly  into  harmony  with  the  aims  of 
the  Beaver  Club  in  bringing  out  this  limited  edition  of 
its  first  publication. 

The  spirit  that  has  inspired  the  members  of  the  Club 
has,  we  believe,  been  caught  by  the  printers  to  whom  the 
work  was  intrusted  in  its  final  stages,  and  they  have  given 
it  the  benefit  of  the  most  painstaking,  sincere  expression 
of  their  handicraft,  of  which  they  are  capable. 

Other  monographs  that  the  Beaver  Club  will  bring 
out  in  future  may  achieve  something  more  pretentious  in 
conception,  arrangement  or  workmanship,  but  as  they  do 
so,  we  will  feel  that  it  is,  in  a  measure,  a  development 
from  the  patient  and  serious  effort  that  has  been  given 
to  make  this  first  publication  as  nearly  perfect  in  its 
expression  of  our  ideal  as  possible. 

There  can  be  no  keener  feeling  of  the  gratification  that 
springs  from  an  earnestly  performed  effort  to  produce 
something  that  will  add  to  the  things  rare  and  beautiful 
in  the  world,  than  the  feeling  that  the  Beaver  Club  enjoys 
in  being  able  now  to  witness  to  kindred  spirits  in  the 
world,  this,  its  first  step  toward  the  realization  of  the 
great  dream  of  rare,  of  lovely,  of  perfect  workmanship. 

THE  CLUB  EDITOR. 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


Alaska  Basketry 

By  V.  V.  Cavana 

ASKETRY  is  the  oldest  of  the  arts. 
There  are  ethnologists  who  claim  this 
distinction  for  pottery,  alleging  that  the 
first  basket  was  an  attempt  to  imitate 
in  textile  fabric  the  form  of  some  crude 
specimen  of  the  primitive  potter's  work. 
But  basketry  is  far  more  ancient  than  the  first  basket. 
Its  earlier  manifestation  would  be,  perhaps,  some  brush 
roughly  intertwined  to  form  a  temporary  shelter — some 
strips  of  bark  or  grass  twisted  to  make  a  needed  cord 
— a  coarse  mat  to  serve  as  a  garment  of  sorts.  The  vessel 
we  call  a  basket  would  be  a  later  and  much  more  advanced 
development  of  basketry. 

Possibly  the  truth,  if  we  could  prove  it,  would  lie  in 
the  statement  that  basketry  and  pottery  are  twins,  and 
that  they  grew,  co-eval,  out  of  primitive  woman's  adapta 
tion  of  her  work  to  her  environment.  If  she  saw  the  track 
of  some  animal  in  wet  clay,  dried  and  sun-hardened,  and 
capable  of  containing  water,  or  if  she  found  the  moist 
earth  beneath  her  fire  burned  to  a  stonelike  solidity,  per 
haps  her  brain  would  conceive  and  her  hands  execute  a 
vessel  of  clay  for  her  own  domestic  use.  While,  if  grass 
was  abundant,  and  trees  and  shrubs  abounded  in  her  sur 
roundings,  the  idea  of  the  basket  would  inevitably  grow, 
even  through  generations,  and  her  fingers  would  labor  to 
materialize  it. 

Eleven 


At  any  rate,  whether  the  one  or  the  other  is  older,  or 
whether  they  were  co-existent  according  to  environment, 
both  these  developments  of  woman's  genius  are  prehistoric 
and  universal.  All  of  the  past,  and  all  of  the  earth's  sur 
face,  are  the  field  for  the  student  of  them.  But  in  the 
study  of  basketry,  he  will  run  upon  the  most  serious  diffi 
culties.  It  was,  and  still  is,  practiced  by  all  primitive 
peoples;  but  they  never  were  keepers  of  records,  nor 
makers  of  any  but  the  crudest  pictures.  Delicate,  beauti 
ful,  artistic  in  the  highest  degree  their  baskets  may  have 
been;  but  the  drawings  they  made  of  them  (prehistoric 
picture-writing  and  the  like),  are  hideously  crude.  They 
left  us  no  history  of  themselves,  much  less  of  their  basketry. 
The  basket  itself  is  perishable,  and  civilization  renders  it 
obsolete.  It  vanishes,  like  the  people  who  made  it. 

But  that  it  was  made,  we  know  from  picture-writing 
on  the  rocks;  from  scraps  miraculously  preserved  in  the 
Mounds,  in  the  cliff  houses  and  caves  of  the  Stone  Age,  in 
mummy  chambers ;  from  the  imprint  of  the  fabric  in  frag 
ments  of  prehistoric  pottery;  and,  after  the  dawn  of 
history,  from  allusions  here  and  there  in  the  scanty  records 
of  contemporaneous  civilization. 

The  aboriginal  inhabitants  of  North  America,  and 
particularly  those  on  the  Pacific  Slope,  have  made  baskets 
in  infinite  variety  from  the  days  of  the  unknown  Mound 
Builders  and  the  mysterious  Cliff  Dwellers  and  Aztecs. 
Those  of  the  later  centuries  are  mentioned  in  the  writings 
of  the  missionary  fathers  and  others  of  the  earliest  adven 
turers  who  followed  the  Conquest,  and  who  had  the  interest 
to  observe  and  the  skill  to  record.  Such  mention  is 
usually  casual  and  brief,  sometimes  no  more  than  an  allu 
sion.  In  the  midst  of  lives  so  strenuous,  in  which  the 

Twelve 


struggle  for  mere  existence  from  day  to  day  was  often 
cruel,  and  sometimes  in  vain,  the  native  basketry  was  a 
negligible  trifle.  But  that  of  the  generations  immediately 
preceding  our  own  has  been  studied  and  described,  usually 
by  government  scientists,  so  that  for  that  period  there  is 
no  lack  of  reliable  material  for  the  student. 

From  Patagonia  to  Point  Barrow,  the  native  woman 
has  always  made  her  baskets.  Every  possible  weave,  and 
every  available  material  appear.  Soil  and  climate  play 
their  inexorable  part,  and  racial  characteristics  write 
themselves  legibly  in  the  fabric.  Odd  diversities  appear 
side  by  side,  and  odder  similarities  at  enormous  distances. 

No  part  of  America  offers  greater  variety,  or  greater 
excellence  of  workmanship,  than  Alaska.  Its  natives 
belong  to  four  great  families — those  of  Athapascan  stock 
in  the  interior,  those  of  Eskimauan  stock  on  the  northern 
and  western  coasts,  the  various  tribes  of  Southeastern 
Alaska,  who  are  of  the  Koloschan  family,  and  the  Haidas 
of  the  south,  who  live  only  partly  in  Alaska  and  are  of 
Skittagetan  stock.  But  different  tribal  branches  of  the 
same  stock  often  present  marked  ethnological  differences, 
and  in  the  matter  of  their  basketry,  have  frequently  little 
or  nothing  in  common.  For  instance,  the  Aleut  and  the 
Eskimo  are  both  of  Eskimauan  stock;  yet  they  differ  in 
appearance,  disposition,  intelligence,  language  and  cus 
toms;  and  in  basketry  they  have  no  common  traits,  the 
Eskimo  producing  a  poor  quality  of  coiled  work,  and  the 
Aleuts  the  finest  woven  baskets  in  the  world.  Thus  it 
is  plain  that  a  classification  of  Alaska  basketry  will  differ 
somewhat  in  its  subdivisions  from  an  ethnological  classi 
fication  of  the  people  who  make  the  baskets.  It  is  with 
the  former  that  this  text  deals  briefly. 

Thirteen 


Alaska  basketry  includes  both  of  the  great  types, 
woven  and  coiled.  But  in  numbers,  and  also  in  beauty, 
the  woven  baskets  far  exceed  the  coiled  variety.  More 
over,  as  tourists  visit  only  Southeastern  Alaska,  and 
there  see  only  the  woven  spruce  root  native  to  the  region, 
with  a  few  of  the  grass  baskets,  also  woven,  from  the 
Aleutian  Islands,  these  two  varieties  are  usually  supposed 
to  comprise  all  of  Alaska  basketry. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  trade,  intermarriage 
and  migration  have  rendered  the  geographical  demarca 
tions  between  the  several  varieties  somewhat  vague;  but 
in  a  general  way,  beginning  at  the  extreme  southeast  of 
the  territory,  the  various  sorts  are  produced  as  follows: 

Locality  Race      Type  Material 

1.  Southeastern  Alaska  Haida     woven  cedar  bark,  spruce  and  cedar 

root 

2.  Southeastern  Alaska  Tlingit    woven  spruce  root 

3.  Aleutian  Islands        Aleuts     woven  wild  rye  grass 

4.  Bristol  Bay  and 

Kuskokwim  River    Eskimo  woven  wild  rye  grass 

5.  Norton  Sound  and 

Arctic  Ocean  Eskimo   coiled   grass  or  willow 

6.  Upper  Yukon  River    Tinne      coiled   spruce    and    tamarack    root, 

willow 

7.  Lower  Yukon  Tinn<§      both      spruce  root,  willow,  grass 

1.  Haidas.  Following  this  grouping,  the  first  bas 
kets  encountered  will  be  those  of  the  Haidas,  who  live 
partly  in  British  Columbia  and  partly  in  Alaska,  in  a 
coast  and  island  region  of  magnificent  cedar  and  spruce 
forests.  From  these  splendid  trees  they  secure  the 
materials  to  produce  three  distinct  varieties  of  woven 
basket.  The  cedar  furnishes  an  inner  bark,  which,  after 
proper  manipulation  and  seasoning,  gives  long  flat  brown 
papery  strips.  These  the  Haida  women  weave  in  flat 
checkerwork  into  soft  mats,  bags  and  baskets.  By  cross 
ing  and  diverting  the  elements  traveling  in  one  direc- 

Fourteen 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


tion  of  the  weave,  they  produce  a  very  pretty  openwork 
variant  of  the  checkerwork  method;  and  certain  slight 
changes  in  the  handling  of  the  strips  give  a  twilled  effect 
that  may  be  repeated  at  intervals  with  pleasing  results. 

Iron  stain,  copper  stain  and  alder  stain  will  produce 
respectively  black,  green  and  red;  and  strips  thus  stained, 
introduced  at  intervals,  furnish  color  decoration. 

From  the  peoples  to  the  south,  they  have  learned  to 
use  the  wrapped  twined  weave,  which  is  native  to  the 
northern  part  of  Vancouver  Island,  but  which  has  been 
adopted  all  along  the  coast  from  Oregon  to  Prince  of 
Wales  Island.  In  this  latter  region,  the  Haidas  make 
frequent  use  of  it  for  small  baskets  intended  for  light 
use,  or  for  ornamental  purposes.  It  consists  of  a  series 
of  upright  warp  elements  with  two  woof  elements  travel 
ing  around  the  fabric  horizontally,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
plain  twined  weave.  But  in  the  wrapped  twine,  one  of 
these  woof  elements  remains  always  on  the  inside  of  the 
basket,  while  the  other  is  wrapped  around  each  warp  and 
the  inside  woof  where  they  lie  together.  The  warp  and 
the  inside  woof  are  of  cedar  bark,  while  the  wrapping 
strand,  covering  the  others  entirely  on  the  outside,  is 
usually  of  squaw  grass.  This  produces,  if  the  grass  is 
properly  cured,  a  fine  ivory-colored  mosaic  effect  that  is 
really  very  pretty,  even  in  the  cruder  pieces.  There  used 
to  be  a  weaver  or  two  among  the  remnant  of  the  Haidas, 
who  carried  these  baskets  to  an  extreme  of  beauty  and 
delicacy;  and  I  have  in  mind  a  little  round,  covered 
treasure-basket,  about  three  inches  in  diameter,  from  the 
region  immediately  south  of  Ketchikan,  that  shows  a 
thousand  and  fifty  stitches  to  the  square  inch  of  its 
exquisite  fabric. 

Sixteen 


So  much  for  the  two  varieties  made  from  cedar. 
From  the  spruce  they  gather  and  prepare  the  root,  pre 
cisely  in  the  Tlingit  manner,  of  which  I  shall  speak 
presently,  and  weave  water-tight  vessels  in  the  close  plain 
twined  weave.  By  using  a  stronger,  coarser  fiber  than 
the  Tlingit  ordinarily  do,  they  produce  a  heavier,  more 
rigid  basket.  It  is  also  from  spruce  root,  in  a  finer 
fiber,  and  an  ornamental  variant  of  the  plain  twine,  that 
they  weave  the  famous  Haida  hats,  beloved  of  basket 
collectors.  These  hats  are  splendid  specimens  of  bas 
ketry,  made  from  selected  root  by  the  best  weavers,  in 
a  certain  prescribed  manner,  the  description  of  which 
would  entail  too  much  detail  for  the  purposes  of  this  writ 
ing.  They  are  graceful  in  shape,  perfect  in  line  and 
finish.  Color  was  not  inwoven,  but  was  painted  on  the 
surface  in  totemic  design — the  only  example,  by  the  way, 
of  totemic  design  in  color  in  this  basketry.  Like  many 
other  splendid  types,  they  are  no  longer  made,  and  the 
searcher  for  them  must  go  to  old  collections. 

2.  Tlinget.  The  work  of  the  Haidas  being  thus 
sketchily  treated,  a  brief  account  of  the  processes  of  the 
Tlingits  is  next  in  order.  They  are  the  group  placed 
second  in  the  table,  and  they  comprise  a  number  of 
tribes,  with  all  their  numerous  clans  and  minor  divisions, 
inhabiting  the  coast  to  the  north  and  then  to  the  west  of 
the  Haida  country.  They  were  the  superlative  basket- 
makers  of  Alaska;  for  while  the  next  division  mentioned, 
the  Aleuts,  produced  some  pieces  of  almost  unbelievable 
fineness,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  worked  in 
a  more  tractable  material — grass.  The  Tlingits  prob 
ably  wove  more  baskets  than  all  the  other  Alaskans 
combined;  and  their  excellence  was  recognized  by  those 

Seventeen 


most  severe  critics,  the  Alaskans  themselves;  for  Tlingit 
baskets  were  articles  of  barter  with  remote  tribes,  before 
the  presence  of  increasing  numbers  of  white  people  had 
given  a  larger  market,  with  its  attendant  evils. 

The  Tlingit  woman  shaped  her  basket  definitely  for 
its  intended  use,  and  employed  the  technique  (of  which 
she  practiced  five  forms)  prescribed  by  tradition  for  that 
especial  purpose.  Thus  was  produced  an  amazingly 
interesting  variety,  from  the  tiny  shot-pouch  and  the 
dainty  covered  treasure-basket,  to  the  yard-wide  berry- 
tray,  and  the  huge  twenty-five-gallon  oil- storage  basket. 
Perfection  of  workmanship  was  characteristic  of  these 
women.  Even  the  big  water-tight  oil  baskets  were  as 
smooth  in  texture  as  a  piece  of  cloth,  perfectly  sym 
metrical  in  shape,  bordered  at  the  top  with  one  or 
another  of  the  recognized  designs  for  the  purpose,  and 
finished  off  with  wonderful  precision  in  one  of  several 
styles.  The  border  might  be  merely  one  or  two  bands 
of  color  (red,  black  or  purple),  or  it  might  be,  and  in 
the  case  of  the  Chilkats  was  sure  to  be,  a  geometric 
design  without  color,  effected  in  a  raised  pattern  by  a 
slight  change  in  the  stitch.  These  big  baskets  were 
woven  of  so  fine  a  fiber  that  a  square  inch  on  the  sur 
face  of  them  will  sometimes  contain  one  hundred  stitches ; 
and  their  texture  is  so  flexible  that  when  not  in  use,  they 
may  be  folded  flat  like  a  paper  bag  to  be  laid  aside  until 
needed. 

Even  in  excellence  there  are  degrees;  and  among  the 
Tlingits,  the  Chilkats  and  the  Yakutats  were  the  best 
weavers.  But  a  good  basket  is  not  a  matter  of  skillful 
weaving  only.  The  selection  and  preparation  of  the  mate 
rials  was  a  slow  and  laborious  process.  The  Tlingit  women, 

Eighteen 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


according  to  Emmons,  selected  a  spruce  tree  in  healthy 
condition,  from  one  to  two  feet  in  diameter,  and  pros 
pected  with  a  fire-hardened  stick  for  the  far-reaching 
growth  of  new  root.  When  found,  this  was  carefully  dug 
out  with  the  hands  and  the  stick,  sometimes  in  lengths  as 
great  as  twenty  feet,  and  in  thickness  about  the  size  of  the 
little  finger.  These  lengths  were  coiled  and  carried  home, 
and  inside  of  a  day  must  be  barked,  which  was  done  by 
steaming  over  coals,  or  in  mud  under  a  bed  of  coals,  and 
then  drawing  the  strip  between  the  tines  of  a  cleft  stick. 
This  process  required  judgment  and  skill,  as  too  much, 
too  little,  or  too  dry  heat  were  all  fatal  to  the  quality  of  the 
cured  fiber;  and  too  little  pressure  on  the  tines  of  the 
"eena"  failed  to  remove  the  bark,  while  too  much  pressure 
injured  the  surface  and  destroyed  the  prized  lustre  of  the 
outer  wood. 

After  removing  the  bark,  the  women  coiled  the  root 
again  and  left  it  to  season.  The  gathering  was  done  in  the 
spring,  and  the  wood  seasoned  during  the  summer  months, 
when  the  demands  of  berrying,  fishing,  and  other  forms  of 
food  collecting  and  storage,  were  imperative.  In  the  dull 
winter  days,  the  root  was  split  and  the  basket  woven.  The 
commercial  demand  for  Tlingit  baskets  is  brisk  and  not 
discriminating,  and  the  habits  of  the  natives  have  changed 
considerably  since  the  influx  of  the  white  people.  Conse 
quently,  weaving  is  now  carried  on  at  all  seasons,  so  that  as 
many  baskets  as  possible  may  be  made  for  sale.  This  of 
course  cuts  out  the  long  period  of  seasoning  for  the  wood, 
which  explains  one  form  of  deterioration  in  the  baskets 
of  the  last  fifteen  years  or  so.  But  formerly,  when  there 
was  time  for  all  things  in  order,  the  weaving  was  a  winter 
occupation.  The  coils  were  soaked,  and  then  split  with 

Twenty 


teeth,  thumb-nail,  and  a  sharp  shell.  Three  qualities  of 
fiber  resulted,  of  which  the  outside  was  the  toughest  and 
glossiest,  and  therefore  the  best,  and  the  inside,  or  heart, 
was  too  pithy  for  use,  and  was  thrown  away.  Needless 
to  say,  the  entire  work,  from  beginning  to  end,  required 
patience,  strength,  judgment,  skill — all  those  qualities 
that  make  good  work  anywhere  in  the  world. 

The  split  root  must  be  soaked  again  before  weaving, 
during  which  it  was  kept  damp  by  moistening  the  fingers 
occasionally.  The  work  began  at  what  was  to  be  the 
center  of  the  bottom,  in  the  following  manner:  Several 
strands  of  the  correct  estimated  length  for  the  basket  in 
view  were  caught  together  at  the  middle  by  a  half  hitch 
of  another  strand,  to  be  used  as  woof.  The  warp  splints 
were  then  spread  open,  as  the  radii  of  a  circle,  and  the 
woof  strand  twined  in  and  out  among  them  for  a  few 
rounds,  thus  forming  a  tiny  circle.  New  warp  must 
then  be  introduced  between  the  strands  of  that  already 
in  use.  This  was  done  by  folding  the  new  strand  at 
the  middle,  and  catching  the  loop  over  the  turn  of  the 
inside  woof  element,  and  then  working  the  new  strands 
into  the  fabric  on  the  next  round.  Examination  of  the 
bottom  of  any  good  basket  makes  this  plain,  although 
the  explanation  sounds  a  trifle  complicated. 

As  the  close  plain  twined  weave  (wush-tookh-ar-kee, 
close  together  work,)  is  the  necessary  foundation  for  the 
characteristic  Tlingit  form  of  decoration,  its  technique 
should  be  understood.  After  the  circular  (or,  very  rarely, 
oval,)  base  has  been  completed,  and  the  upright  walls 
are  beginning,  numerous  warp  elements  stand  up  like 
a  stiff  fringe  around  the  circumference  of  the  basket,  and 
two  woof  elements  are  twined  in  and  out,  over  and  under 

T  wen  ty-on  e 


each  warp  element.  As  each  woof  strand  comes  to  the 
outside,  it  takes  a  half  turn  over  the  other  woof  strand, 
between  warps,  always  in  the  same  direction;  so  that  the 
two  woof  strands,  if  they  could  be  seen  without  the  warp, 
would  form  a  twisted  cord  of  perfect  regularity.  In 
fact,  this  can  be  seen  sometimes,  in  case  of  a  break  in 
the  fabric,  which  allows  the  warp  to  slip  out,  leaving  the 
cord  of  the  woof  plainly  visible.  It  often  occurs  in  the 
delicate  grass  baskets  of  the  Aleuts,  who  use  precisely 
the  same  stitch.  This  weave  produces  a  flexible  water 
tight  vessel,  which,  as  said  before,  may  be  folded  like  a 
paper  bag  when  not  in  use. 

For  baskets  in  which  no  colored  decoration  was  in 
tended,  such  as  the  cooking  baskets  and  the  storage 
baskets,  a  weave  called  khark-ghee-sut  (translated  by 
Emmons  as  "between,  or  in  the  middle  of/')  was  used. 
It  consisted  of  alternating  rows  of  the  plain  twine  and 
the  checkerwork,  and  therefore  effected  a  saving  of  one- 
fourth  of  the  woof  material.  Thus,  one  round  of  the 
work  would  consist  of  the  upright  warp,  with  two  woof 
strands  twining  over  them;  the  next  round  would  con 
sist  of  only  one  woof  strand  passing  over  and  under  the 
warp;  the  third  round  would  be  a  repetition  of  the  first, 
and  the  fourth  would  be  a  repetition  of  the  second*  This 
weave  was  water-tight,  and  was  frequently  used  in  the 
bottoms  of  baskets  of  all  kinds,  except  by  the  Yakutats. 
In  new  pieces,  it  appears  rather  rough  and  crude;  but 
in  the  splendid  old  relics  of  a  vanished  age,  the  rows  of 
twined  work  were  forced  down  so  closely  together  that 
the  intervening  one-strand  row  can  barely  be  discerned. 

In  some  vessels,  such  as  those  used  for  draining  the 
water  out  of  some  kinds  of  food,  an  openwork  effect 

Twenty-two 


V 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


was  desirable,  and  in  others  it  was  used  for  ornament. 
Again,  if  a  water-tight  basket  was  not  necessary,  the 
openwork  saved  an  appreciable  quantity  of  material. 
The  Tlingit  used  such  a  weave,  calling  it  wark-kus- 
khart,  or  eyeholes,  and  obtained  it  by  diverting  the  warp. 
Every  other  warp  element  was  deflected  to  the  right, 
the  alternate  ones  turning  to  the  left.  This  caused  the 
warp  to  cross  continually,  like  lattice  work,  at  an  angle 
of  about  forty-five  degrees.  At  each  crossing,  the  warp 
elements  were  caught  by  the  two  woof  elements  of  the 
plain  twine.  The  result  was  an  open  fabric,  diagonal 
warp,  horizontal  rows  of  woof,  and  hexagonal  mesh. 
The  Haidas,  as  noted  before,  got  much  the  same  effect 
in  their  one-strand  woof. 

A  fourth  style  of  technique  in  practice  by  the  Tlingits 
was  hiktch-hee-har-see,  which  required  the  same  elements 
as  the  plain  twine.  But  the  two  woof  strands  inclosed 
two  warps  at  each  turn,  instead  of  one,  and  on  the  next 
round  of  the  work,  split  these  pairs,  inclosing  two  as 
before,  but  not  the  same  two.  This  work,  like  the  plain 
twine,  presents  the  same  appearance  on  the  wrong  side 
as  on  the  right.  It  produced  a  raised  diagonal  or  twilled 
effect,  and  by  manipulating  it  in  connection  with  the 
plain  twine,  geometrical  patterns  were  obtained  in  the 
fabric.  The  function  of  this  weave  was  that  of  orna 
ment.  It  appears  in  the  borders  of  the  Chilkat  storage 
baskets,  and  on  the  brims  of  the  Haida  hats. 

Uh-tahk-ka    (twisted)    was   a  three-strand  weave,— 
that   is,   it   required   three   woof   strands.     Each  passed 
back  of  one  warp,  and  then  over  two  warps.     In  work 
ing,  it  showed  two  woofs  on  the  outside  of  the  fabric  at 
all  times,  and  one  on  the  inside;  and  when  completed, 

Twenty-four 


it  presented  a  raised  cord  on  the  right  side,  while  the 
wrong  side  of  the  work  showed  no  trace  of  it.  It  was 
both  strong  and  highly  ornamental,  and  was  usually 
introduced  at  points  in  the  work  where  the  heaviest 
strain  of  use  would  fall,  such  as  the  base  of  the  walls 
of  the  basket,  and  the  top.  Alternate  rows  of  it  pro 
duced  a  corded  border  that  was  very  handsome.  The 
hat  crowns  offer  the  only  examples  of  its  use  for  the 
entire  fabric. 

These  are  the  five  weaves  practiced  by  Tlingit  weav 
ers.  The  strawberry  weave  of  which  we  sometimes  hear 
is  merely  plain  twine,  with  one  of  the  woof  strands 
colored.  This  brings  the  color  to  the  outside  in  alternate 
stitches,  and  so  produces  a  spotted  effect,  like  the  seeded 
surface  of  the  wild  strawberry.  It  was  used  in  bands 
for  decorative  effect,  and  was  especially  characteristic  of 
certain  forms  of  basket,  such  as  the  large  berry  tray. 
Also,  it  often  appeared  in  the  bottoms  of  other  baskets. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  the  Tlingit 
basket  is  the  finish  at  the  top.  When  the  desired  height 
had  been  attained,  some  neat  and  secure  method  of  fast 
ening  off  the  work  was  a  necessity,  both  for  beauty  and 
for  strength.  Lieutenant  Emmons,  in  his  researches  in 
this  basketry,  classified  such  methods  in  twelve  forms. 
The  simplest  was  the  case  of  the  low  covered  basket,  for 
which  a  lid  was  woven  to  fit  exactly  over  the  top,  and 
in  the  use  of  which  no  particular  strain  was  put  upon 
the  rim.  Here  the  weaver  simply  stopped  the  work  and 
cut  off  the  warp  close  to  the  last  row  of  woof,  often 
using  a  few  rows  of  khark-ghee-sut  at  the  end.  In  this 
way  she  secured  a  flat  surface  in  both  lid  and  basket, 
insuring  a  neater  fit  than  might  otherwise  have  been 

Twenty- five 


possible.  The  Haida  hat  also,  for  obvious  reasons,  was 
finished  by  merely  clipping  the  warp.  But  any  basket 
intended  to  carry  burdens  needed  a  stronger  finish.  The 
plainest  of  these  was  made  by  turning  down  the  end  of 
each  warp  element,  and  weaving  it  under  the  next  turn 
of  the  woof  strands,  on  the  inside  of  the  basket.  When 
the  round  was  completed,  the  woof  was  fastened  off,  and 
the  warp  ends  clipped  close.  This  produced  a  sort  of 
selvage  edge,  strong  enough  for  all  ordinary  purposes, 
and  very  neat.  If  the  basket  was  designed  for  very 
hard  service,  and  greater  strength  was  needed,  one  or 
more  extra  strands  of  woof  were  introduced,  and  the  warp 
ends  were  involved  in  a  three-  or  four-strand  braided  fin 
ish.  The  Chilkat  cooking  and  storage  baskets  always 
had  a  four-strand  braided  finish,  complicated  in  execu 
tion,  but  unsurpassed  for  wearing  qualities.  Some  of 
the  baskets  made  from  Sitka  west  to  Yakut  at  Bay  had 
a  perfectly  marvelous  four-strand  finish,  not  braided,  but 
woven  more  like  the  uh-tah-ka,  as  round  and  smooth  as  a 
piece  of  wire,  with  not  a  warp  end  visible.  One  marked 
difference  between  the  old  and  the  new  baskets  is  the 
lack,  in  even  the  best  of  the  new  work,  of  this  skillfully 
executed  finish  at  the  top. 

Colored  ornamentation  in  this  basketry  was  very 
beautiful,  in  method,  design  and  color.  Grass  for  the 
purpose  was  gathered  in  the  early  summer,  before  it  was 
ripe,  dipped  in  boiling  water,  and  spread  out  in  the  shade 
for  slow  drying.  Several  varieties  were  used,  according 
to  the  supply  available  in  the  locality.  Emmons  says 
that  panicularia  nervata  was  most  esteemed,  and  was 
never  dyed,  being  highly  prized  for  its  glossy  rich  ivory 
color,  and  being  a  recognized  article  of  commerce,  as  it 
grew  only  in  certain  places. 

Tw  en  ty-  s  ix 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


In  applying  grass  to  form  decorative  designs,  the 
weaver  wrapped  it  around  the  outside  woof  element 
only.  Thus,  it  did  not  pass  back  of  the  warp,  and  was 
consequently  not  to  be  seen  on  the  inside  of  the  basket. 
Emmons's  term  "false  embroidery"  seems  to  be  as  good 
as  any  other  to  designate  this  particular  form  of  orna 
mentation,  and  is  used  in  these  descriptions;  but  it  must 
be  remembered  that  it  is  a  wrapping  of  the  decorative 
element  around  the  outside  woof  strand  only,  in  the 
course  of  the  weaving,  and  is  done  with  the  fingers,  no 
needle  or  other  tool  being  used,  and  the  decoration  pro 
ceeding  stitch  by  stitch  with  the  structure  of  the  basket. 

The  decorative  designs  used  in  Tlingit  basketry  were 
not  symbolic  or  totemic.  This  is  positive.  They  were 
pictorial,  representing  natural  objects  so  highly  conven 
tionalized  as  to  be  impossible  of  recognition  unless  a  clew 
to  the  meaning  was  available.  Moreover,  they  most  fre 
quently  represented,  not  the  object  or  animal  itself,  but 
some  characteristic,  quality  or  result  of  it.  For  instance, 
the  several  butterfly  motifs  do  not  represent  the  insect, 
but  either  the  markings  on  its  wings,  or  the  wavering 
line  of  its  flight;  and  the  wave  motif  of  the  Yakutat 
does  not  represent  the  wave  itself,  but  the  line  of  the 
foam  and  drift  that  it  leaves  on  a  sandy  beach  as  it 
recedes. 

Tlingit  designs  were  handed  down  from  generation 
to  generation  of  weavers,  and  used  with  slight  variations 
to  suit  the  personal  taste  of  the  maker,  or  to  fit  the 
space  upon  which  they  were  applied.  Emphatically, 
realistic  designs  have  no  place  in  this  basketry,  except  in 
the  case  of  the  Shaman's  hat;  nor  have  totemic  or  sym 
bolic  figures.  Tlingit  carving,  painting  and  blanket- 

Twenty-eight 


weaving  were  all  symbolic,  and  all  in  totemic  or  realistic 
design,  but  not  Tlingit  basketry.  Any  such  designs 
used  on  the  new  baskets  are  the  result  of  contact  with 
the  white  people — regrettable  imitations  of  something 
seen  among  them,  or  the  result  of  suggestions  from 
traders  and  tourists.  As  a  case  in  point,  the  symbolic 
figure  known  as  the  swastika,  which  has  a  significance 
among  primitive  peoples  as  widely  separated  on  the  sur 
face  of  the  globe  as  India  and  Arizona,  has  no  place 
whatever  in  Alaska  design  nor  in  that  of  British  Colum 
bia.  Yet  it  is  now  very  commonly  seen  on  the  baskets 
of  both  regions.  In  Southeastern  Alaska,  it  is  the  result 
of  the  suggestion  of  a  certain  dealer,  who  presented  his 
native  friends  with  a  copy  of  the  figure,  and  urged  the 
weavers  to  adopt  it.  Also,  about  ten  years  ago,  many 
baskets  began  to  appear  upon  which  realistic  figures  of 
the  raven,  the  whale,  the  crow,  etc.,  were  used,  instead  of 
the  beautiful  old  conventional  traditional  Tlingit  designs. 
These  seemed  to  appeal  to  the  tourist  as  being  very 
characteristic,  and  were  freely  purchased.  So  that  many 
of  them  are  now  woven.  They  may  be  thoroughly  good 
baskets  in  other  respects,  and  the  discriminating  buyer 
will  sometimes  purchase  them  for  the  sake  of  their  un 
doubted  qualities  in  those  other  lines;  but  he  will  alwiays 
be  entirely  aware  that  the  decoration  is  spurious. 

Nor  was  realism  in  color  attempted.  The  native 
means  of  producing  color  limited  the  range,  and  any 
pleasing  combination  was  used  with  any  design.  Such 
color  as  they  had,  was  charming.  To  begin  with,  they 
had  the  beautiful  ivory  of  the  cured  but  undyed  grass, 
and  the  glossy  brown  or  purple  of  the  stems  of  the 
maidenhair  fern;  and  these  two  in  combination,  applied 

Twenty-nine 


with  true  Tlingit  art  to  the  seasoned  wood-color  of  a 
good  basket,  would  win  a  delighted  approbation  from 
any  lover  of  beauty  and  skill  in  craftsmanship.  Huckle 
berry  juice  was  much  used.  It  gave  a  good  purple,  and 
they  dipped  both  grass  and  root  into  it,  and  often  the 
fern  stems  too,  because  their  natural  color  varies  a  good 
deal.  There  are  mineral  springs  in  the  region,  and  by 
boiling  their  material  in  the  water  or  by  burying  it  in 
the  hot  mud,  they  secured  a  black  or  brown.  A  certain 
coppery-looking  blue  or  green  is  said  to  have  been  just 
what  it  looks  like — copper  stain;  and  a  fur  trader  once 
told  me  that  an  orange  tone  I  admired  in  a  basket- 
maker's  tray  was  obtained  from  a  clay  deposit  back  in 
the  country.  Of  these  two  I  cannot  speak  positively. 
But  a  most  pleasing  yellow  is  known  to  have  been  a 
decoction  of  wolf  moss;  and  alder  wood  and  bark 
steeped  in  a  certain  primitive  mordant,  gave  most  beauti 
ful  and  permanent  shades  of  red.  Hemlock  bark  will 
give  a  black  stain.  These  are  the  colors  of  the  old  bas 
ketry;  and  to  the  lover  of  rich  color,  they  will  appeal 
as  no  modern  improvements  upon  them  can  do. 

The  Tlingit  woman  seldom  applied  her  decoration 
directly  upon  the  natural  wood-color  of  the  basket.  She 
preferred  to  make  a  background  for  it.  This  she  did  by 
using  dyed  root  for  the  woof  strands  while  applying  the 
embroidered  design.  So  that,  when  finished,  the  bright 
design  in  grass  stood  out  upon  a  dark,  sometimes  a 
striped,  band,  edged  at  top  and  bottom  with  a  single 
row  of  contrasting  color.  As  before  stated,  the  manner 
of  applying  the  so-called  embroidery  is  such  that  it  is  all 
on  the  outer  surface  of  the  work,  and  does  not  appear 
on  the  inside  of  the  basket.  But  the  background  band, 

Thirty 


being  the  woof  itself,  of  course  shows  as  plainly  on  the 
inside  as  on  the  outside. 

In  speaking  of  color,  something  must  be  said  of  ani 
line  dye.  A  druggist  who  was  in  business  in  Juneau 
from  1888  to  1892,  years  before  the  day  of  the  Klon- 
diker  or  the  tourist,  has  told  me  that  he  always  kept  in 
stock,  for  the  use  of  the  native  women,  plenty  of  Dia 
mond  Dyes,  and  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  selling 
them  in  lots  of  two  or  three  dozen  packages  at  a  time, 
to  natives  from  as  far  west  as  the  Copper  River  Country. 
One  package  of  this  dye  would  come  near  to  giving  all 
of  its  particular  color  that  could  be  needed  for  the  deco 
ration  of  the  season's  entire  community  output  of  baskets ; 
and  the  increased  range  of  color  interested  and  pleased 
the  women,  especially  the  younger  ones.  Besides,  this 
ready-to-use  and  easily-applied  dye  eliminated  the  slow 
and  laborious  methods  of  the  ancient  ways,  and  was 
therefore  doubly  welcome.  This  is  merely  a  manifesta 
tion  of  never-changing  human  nature.  The  women  of 
early  New  England  spun  the  yarn  of  which  they  knit 
the  family  stockings;  their  great-granddaughters  bought 
the  yarn  by  the  skein;  and  their  descendants  of  to-day 
buy  the  stockings  outright.  Under  similar  influences, 
this  development  will  occur  in  any  environment,  so  that 
there  is  no  occasion  for  surprise  in  the  universal  use  of 
aniline  dyes  in  basketry.  It  is  one  thing  that  makes  the 
old  baskets  so  precious.  Some  of  the  dealers  of  to-day 
are  trying  to  induce  the  weavers  whose  wares  they  han 
dle  to  make  baskets  with  little  or  no  dye,  using  the  ivory 
grass  and  the  brown  fern  stem,  and  perhaps  some  huckle 
berry  or  alder  stained  strands.  Such  pieces,  if  well  made, 
are  highly  desirable. 

Thirty-one 


Furthermore,  the  fact  that  a  basket  is  colored  with 
aniline  is  in  itself  no  sufficient  reason  for  discarding  it, 
if  it  is  otherwise  all  that  it  should  be.  Some  very  excel 
lent  work  is  dyed  with  aniline,  and,  unless  the  basket  is 
very  old,  it  is  often  difficult  to  be  sure  of  the  nature  of 
the  coloring,  if  the  maker  has  been  artistic  enough  to 
stick  to  the  characteristic  Tlingit  range.  But  above 
everything,  the  collector  desires  to  know  the  truth  about 
his  specimens. 

The  use  of  the  word  truth  suggests  some  pessimistic 
reflections  about  the  difficulty  of  getting  at  it  in  regard 
to  Alaska  basketry.  It  has  seemed  to  me,  after  twenty- 
odd  years  of  interest  in  the  subject,  that  few  persons 
know  anything  at  all  about  it.  Many  who  are  well- 
informed  in  regard  to  the  basketry  of  other  regions, 
have  little  or  no  knowledge  of  the  Alaska  branch  of 
the  art,  and,  furthermore,  often  appear  unwilling  to 
admit  this.  It  is  not  strange  that  the  work  is  not  as 
well  understood  as  that  of  other  parts  of  our  country- 
there  is  good  reason  for  it;  but  it  is  strange  that  sensible 
people  should  so  often  pretend  to  a  knowledge  they  do 
not  possess. 

3.  Aleut.  Aleut  basketry,  the  third  of  the  great 
divisions  of  the  subject,  is  the  product  of  the  stormy, 
foggy,  sunless  chain  of  islands  stretching  from  the  end 
of  the  Alaska  Peninsula  to  a  point  far  over  in  the  east 
ern  hemisphere,  near  to  Asia,  and  nearly  two  thousand 
miles  west  of  Yakutat.  It  is  a  region  of  terrific  isola 
tion,  which  travelers  never  reach.  The  Nome  passen 
ger  steamers,  stopping  at  Unalaska,  form  the  nearest 
approach  of  travel  to  the  westward  reaches  of  the  Aleu 
tian  Chain.  Once  a  year  an  island  trader's  schooner 

Thirty-two 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


visits  them,  carrying  needed  supplies,  and  bringing  away 
furs  and  the  year's  output  of  baskets,  except  such  as 
they  keep  for  their  friends  of  the  revenue  cutter  which 
makes  its  annual  call  soon  after.  (Porter.) 

Primitive  man  makes  use  of  the  means  at  hand.  No 
timber  of  any  sort,  but  abundant  wild  rye  grass,  grows 
upon  these  islands.  Hence,  grass  is  the  material  of  their 
basketry.  It  is  all  flexible,  and  the  grass  is  often  split 
to  such  extreme  fineness  that  the  resulting  basket  will 
not  hold  its  sides  upright.  The  women  gather  it  with 
care,  searching  far  for  the  best  growth,  like  all  good 
weavers,  selecting  only  the  two  or  three  choice  leaves 
on  the  plant,  and  curing  them  slowly  in  the  shade  of 
their  houses.  By  gathering  earlier  or  later,  and  curing 
in  varying  degrees  of  dampness  and  shade  (there  is  little 
else!)  they  obtain  delicate  variations  in  the  color  of  the 
cured  strands,  which  they  use  most  effectively  in  the  warp 
of  some  of  the  work.  The  usual  shades  are  a  pale  golden 
straw-color,  and  a  faint  tealeaf  green.  Sometimes,  in 
decoration  where  its  brittleness  will  not  affect  the  strength 
of  the  basket,  they  use  an  almost  white  strand,  plucked 
very  late,  after  it  had  ripened  on  its  root. 

Their  weaving,  with  one  isolated  exception,  is  all  done 
in  variations  of  the  plain  twine,  but  they  make  several 
distinct  types  of  basket,  with  recognizable  local  charac 
teristics.  The  grass  is  very  long  and  very  soft,  and  the 
warp  will  not,  of  course,  stand  upright  in  weaving,  as 
the  Tlingit  spruce  root  will.  Therefore  the  Aleut  weaver 
suspends  her  basket,  bottom  upward,  and  weaves  deftly 
among  the  thick,  long,  soft  fringe  of  warp  depending 
from  it.  The  work  is  done  in  the  dark  winter,  in  the 

Th  irty-four 


dim,  close  interior  of  half  underground  hovels.    Yet  some 
of  it  has  no  peer  in  basketry. 

Their  decorative  materials  consisted,  before  the  intro 
duction  of  silk,  of  the  previously  mentioned  variations  in 
the  color  of  their  working  straw,  of  eagle  down,  which 
they  applied  but  scantily,  of  hair,  of  skin,  and  of  grass 
dyed  with  native  substances.  There  were  no  brilliant 
feathers  available  for  them,  as  for  some  of  the  southern 
weavers.  In  their  sad,  bleak  little  scraps  of  volcanic 
islands,  nothing  is  brilliant  but  the  evanescent  spring 
flowers  that  bloom  on  the  sod  tops  of  their  huts  for  a 
brief  season.  Their  dye  materials  were  extremely  lim 
ited,  and,  from  all  accounts,  rather  dull  in  effect. 

In  technique,  their  decoration  is  very  similar  to  that 
of  the  Tlingit,  but  more  varied.  They  often  use  exactly 
the  same  false  embroidery,  but  they  lay  their  designs 
directly  upon  the  uncolored  grass  of  the  basket,  not  using 
the  colored  band  for  a  background,  as  the  Tlingit  do. 
In  the  tiny  "cigarette  cases"  they  frequently  use  the  col 
ored  material  for  woof,  but  in  that  case,  it  constitutes  a 
part  of  the  design  itself.  This  involves  a  constant  carry 
ing  along  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  filaments  not  then  in 
use  for  the  design,  and  adds  one  more  to  the  complica 
tions  of  this  amazing  textile  art.  In  the  larger  baskets, 
they  use  wool  in  colors,  sometimes  in  the  false  embroid 
ery,  but  more  often  as  follows:  A  strand  of  the  wool 
is  caught  under  the  outside  woof  element,  and  is  then 
reversed  in  direction  and  caught  under  the  next  woof 
element,  the  loop  being  pulled  tight.  Both  ends  are  then 
cut  short.  This  makes  a  tiny  figure  like  a  U  upside 
down,  and  is  repeated  until  the  portion  of  the  design 
which  lies  on  that  round  of  the  work  has  been^accom- 

Thirty-f  ive 


plished.  When  the  basket  is  finished,  the  design  is  com 
posed  of  these  tiny  tight  loops  and  their  short  clipped 
ends,  and  therefore  has  a  fuzzy  appearance.  For  bands 
running  around  the  basket,  they  do  not  clip  the  wool, 
but  catch  it  under  each  turn  of  the  woof,  first  up,  then 
down,  then  up  again,  giving  a  continuous  wavy  line. 
Often  these  bands  of  ornamentation  are  complex,  con 
sisting  of  a  central  line  of  colored  grass,  perhaps  an 
eighth  of  an  inch  in  width  (very  wide  for  this  work) 
used  in  checkerwork  weave,  with  a  waving  line  of  wool 
on  each  side.  , 

Their  designs  are  no  more  symbolic  than  those  of  the 
Tlingit.  Of  late  years,  they  mean  nothing.  But  the  old 
specimens  show  forms  that  strongly  suggest  convention 
alized  insect,  bird  and  flower  forms,  or  lines  of  flight, 
or  of  water  disturbance,  such  as  the  wake  of  swimming 
creatures.  These  are  exactly  the  things  that  the  Aleut 
woman  would  see  all  her  life,  and  undoubtedly  it  was 
from  these  sources  that  she  first  drew  her  decorative 
inspirations.  But  I  have  never  been  able,  so  far,  to  get 
any  reliable  information  about  it.  Mr.  Porcher,  the  au 
thor  of  by  far  the  best  article  on  this  basketry  that  I 
have  ever  seen,  and  who  is  freely  quoted  by  Dr.  Mason, 
does  not  enter  into  the  matter  at  all. 

The  colored  design  may  be  near  the  top,  in  a  well- 
defined  band,  with  line  borders,  or  it  may  consist  of  a 
more  or  less  close  arrangement  of  figures  over  the  entire 
surface.  Some,  of  the  old  specimens  of  large  covered 
Atka  basket  with  slightly  convex  walls,  were  practically 
entirely  covered  with  geometrical  figures  in  perfectly 
symmetrical  arrangement,  the  size  of  which  diminished 
above  and  below  the  center,  in  a  beautiful  perspective 

Thirty-six 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


that  brings  to  mind  the  designs  of  the  famous  Nevada 
weaver,  Datsolalee.  But  Datsolalee's  work  is  coiled  over 
heavy  foundations,  and  is  rigid;  while  this  of  the  Atka 
women  is  woven,  is  flexible,  and  is  of  an  extremely  fine 
and  threadlike  texture. 

These  Aleut  baskets  are  sometimes  finished  at  the 
top  by  means  of  the  turned  down  warp  inwoven  in  the 
course  of  the  work,  exactly  like  some  of  those  of  the 
Tlingit,  so  minutely  classified  by  Emmons;  and  some 
times  by  gathering  the  long  warp  in  small  braids,  and 
then  plaiting  these  small  ones  into  a  heavy  ropelike  braid 
running  along  the  top  in  scallops,  through  which  the 
grass  cord  can  be  drawn  for  convenience  in  carrying 
weight. 

In  all  the  Aleutian  Chain,  there  are,  according  to  Mr. 
Porcher,  only  eight  villages  of  any  size.  Five  of  them, 
including  Unalaska,  are  on  Unalaska  Island.  Here  the 
natives  are  of  course  subjected  to  considerable  white 
influence,  and  the  quality  of  their  basketry  has  suffered 
accordingly.  Combinations  of  the  weaves  and  designs  of 
the  whole  island  and  of  the  other  islands  occur,  so  that 
there  is  no  longer  a  distinct  type.  But  they  seem  to  favor 
two  forms  rather  strongly:  one  the  small  covered  basket, 
cylindrical  in  shape,  dimensions  probably  about  six  by 
six,  weave  either  close  plain  twine,  or  crossed  warp  open 
work,  rather  poorly  made;  and  second,  the  large  open 
top  basket  in  plain  twine,  of  rather  coarse  fiber,  with 
the  warp  standing  close,  and  the  rows  of  woof  running 
about  half  an  inch  apart.  Both  these  types  show  colored 
ornamentation. 

The  next  large  island  to  the  west  is  Umnak,  with  its 
village  of  Nikolski,  where  most  of  the  work  is  heavy  and 

Thirty-eight 


coarse  in  texture.  Porcher  mentions  a  peculiar  type  that 
was  occasionally  found  here  and  nowhere  else — a  flaring 
open  basket,  beginning  with  a  well-made  base  in  unsplit 
grass,  the  warp  of  which  was  split  and  re-split  as  the 
sides  rose,  and  woof  of  corresponding  gauge  introduced. 
Thus  the  work,  beginning  with  a  coarse  fiber  at  the  bot 
tom,  grew  finer  and  finer  as  the  work  advanced,  till  the 
top  was  an  extremely  fine  close  weave,  finished  by  braid 
ing  off  the  warp. 

Westward  another  two  hundred  miles  or  so  lies  Atka 
Island,  with  its  village  of  Atka,  and  in  this  place  the 
white  influence  is  less  baleful.  The  Atka  burden-basket, 
the  heaviest  of  all  Aleutian  work,  is  the  only  example  of 
the  wrapped  twined  weave  to  be  found  in  the  islands.  Its 
development  in  this  region  differs  from  that  among  the 
Haidas.  In  the  first  place,  the  fabric  is  openwork. 
Next,  all  the  elements  are  of  the  same  material.  Then, 
the  woof  element  which  lies  horizontally  along  the  warp 
is  on  the  outside,  while  the  wrapping  element  is  inside 
the  basket.  Last,  the  wrapping  element  does  not  take 
a  diagonal  turn  about  both  the  warp  and  the  other  woof, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Makah  work,  but  merely  reaches 
out  between  the  warp  elements  and  loops  around  the  other 
woof,  then  passes  back  of  the  warp  and  out  through  the 
next  space,  catching  the  woof,  and  so  on.  It  is  a  very 
simple  stitch  in  comparison  with  the  Makah  and  Haida 
development  of  it,  and  well  suited  to  the  material,  and 
the  purpose  for  which  it  is  used.  Another  typical  basket 
of  Atka  is  the  splendid  barrel-shaped,  covered  specimen, 
decorated  over  its  entire  surface,  which  has  been  men 
tioned  before.  The  warp  is  straight,  separated  very 
slightly,  and  the  woof  rows  of  plain  twine  run  about 

Thirty-nine 


their  own  width  apart.  The  fabric  is  therefore  a  very 
fine  openwork,  with  a  rectangular  mesh,  and  the  basket 
is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  examples  of  Aleut  work. 
Here  also  is  found  the  delightful  little  cylindrical  cov 
ered  basket  in  close  plain  twine,  water-tight,  daintily 
decorated,  extremely  beautiful  and  delicate. 

Far  over  in  the  eastern  longitudes,  five  hundred  miles 
beyond  Atka,  lies  the  end  of  the  Chain,  Attu.  Attu,  the 
home  of  the  most  exquisite  basketry  in  the  world!  Here 
the  acme  of  daintiness  is  reached.  Aside  from  baskets 
designed  for  the  very  roughest,  heaviest  work,  two  char 
acteristic  types  prevail,  a  large  open  basket,  and  the  tiny 
"cigarette  case.'"  The  large  sort  will  be  eleven  or  so 
inches  in  height  and  diameter,  made  of  grass  split  to 
extreme  fineness.  The  weave  is  plain  twine,  in  crossed 
or  diverted  warp,  which  is  frequently  of  two  shades  of 
grass,  presenting  faint  vertical  stripes  in  the  fabric. 
The  woof  rows  will  be  not  more  than  an  eighth  of  an 
inch  apart,  and  the  grass  strands  are  sometimes  a  thirty- 
second  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  so  that  the  whole  big  basket 
is  like  a  piece  of  lace,  and  will  not  hold  its  sides  upright 
and  apart.  During  the  process  of  weaving  the  maker 
introduces,  along  with  the  warp,  on  two  opposite  sides 
of  the  basket,  two  or  three  firmly  twisted  cords  of  the 
grass.  These  are  very  fine — probably  about  a  sixteenth 
of  an  inch  in  diameter — but  tight  and  strong;  and  she 
weaves  them  in  as  warp  all  the  way  up.  The  braided 
loop  finish  before  described  belongs  with  this  type,  and 
in  making  it,  the  weaver  begins  her  braiding  at  one  of 
these  reinforced  points.  When  she  has  finished  her  plait 
ing  all  the  way  around  the  top,  and  is  back  at  the  place 
of  beginning,  she  continues  the  braid  to  make  a  heavy 

Forty 


cord,  perhaps  thirty  inches  long  and  as  thick  as  her  little 
finger.  The  end  is  knotted  and  left  free.  When  the 
basket  is  in  use,  (and  in  their  natural  environment  these 
delicate  lacelike  creations  will  safely  carry  thirty  pounds 
of  fish,)  the  free  end  of  the  cord  is  run  through  the  loop 
at  the  other  reinforced  point,  and  the  weight  is  swung 
over  the  shoulder.  This  type  is  decorated  by  means  of 
a  broad  band  of  geometrical  figures  around  the  top,  done 
in  colored  wool,  with  very  frequently  some  touches  of 
snow-white  sculpin  skin  by  way  of  accent. 

The  wonderful  "cigarette  case"  is  really  two  tiny 
baskets.  They  are  woven  in  cylindrical  form  over  two 
pieces  of  wood,  one  a  shade  smaller  than  the  other,  and 
when  completed  are  slipped  off,  folded  flat,  and  tele 
scoped.  The  entire  world  of  basketry  (and  that  means 
the  terrestrial  globe,  as  basketry  is  a  universal  art,) 
offers  nothing  that  is  superior,  and  little  if  anything  that 
is  equal  to  them.  It  should  be  remembered  that  they 
are  made  from  the  coarse  wild  beach  rye,  maniplated  by 
human  fingers  only.  If  any  tool  enters  into  their  con 
struction,  it  is  a  knife-blade  to  split  the  grass,  and  even 
that  is  doubtful.  Probably  a  thumbnail  does  the  work. 
Yet  the  grass  is  split  with  absolute  regularity,  to  such 
fineness  that  the  weaving  will  show  from  thirty  to  fifty 
stitches  on  one  inch  of  a  row,  and  this  means  upwards 
of  two  thousand  stitches  per  square  inch. 

Folded,  their  dimensions  will  be  something  like  two 
and  three-quarters  inches  by  four,  though  I  have  seen 
the  coarser  ones  larger.  The  weave  is  close  plain  twine, 
and  the  exquisite  circular  base  is  a  thing  to  marvel  at. 
It  generally  shows  a  few  rows  of  crossed  warp  openwork, 
looking  like  fine  hemstitching  in  a  piece  of  pongee.  If 

Forty-one 


the  decorations  are  to  consist  of  circular  bands  around 
the  basket,  as  they  often  do,  single  rows  of  this  openwork 
will  be  introduced  at  harmonious  intervals  in  the  walls. 
Sometimes  these  colored  bands  are  made  by  the  use  of 
silk  as  woof,  with  microscopic  dots  of  false  embroidery 
in  white  sculpin  skin.  Sometimes  the  designs  are  geor 
metrical  figures  in  regular  arrangement,  either  false 
embroidery  or  a  development  of  the  woof.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  the  grass  woof  and  the  silk  woof  must 
for  much  of  the  work  be  carried  along  together  on  the 
wrong  side,  and  that  the  perfect  execution,  a  row  at  a 
time,  of  a  repeating  design,  is  a  complicated  matter,  one 
marvels  more  and  more  at  these  little  baskets.  They 
cannot  be  said  to  have  any  utilitarian  purpose  at  the 
present  time,  but  their  qualities  of  workmanship  furnish 
sufficient  excuse  for  their  being.  The  demand  for  them 
created  by  the  communication  with  the  world  established 
by  the  cutters  so  long  ago,  is  said  to  have  improved  the 
weave  for  a  time — a  condition  which  frequently  obtains 
on  the  first  contact  of  primitive  weavers  with  a  market 
for  their  wares,  but  which  invariably  holds  only  up  to  a 
certain  point,  after  which  the  inevitable  commercial  dete 
rioration  sets  in.  The  larger  baskets  of  this  group,  as 
well  as  those  of  the  other  groups,  photograph  very  well; 
but  no  photograph  of  a  first-class  specimen  of  this  type 
ever  conveys  any  adequate  idea  of  its  charm.  For  one 
reason,  age,  and  a  careful  selection  and  curing  of  the 
material  in  the  first  place,  give  them  a  lovely  pale  but 
warm  golden  color  that  is  a  delight  to  the  eye;  and  for 
another,  only  a  minute  inspection  of  the  dainty  little 
object  itself  will  reveal  the  perfection  of  its  finish. 

Forty-two 


Of  the  age  of  individual  baskets  of  the  Tlingit  and 
Aleut  divisions,  an  estimate  is  usually  all  that  can  be 
offered,  based  upon  known  characteristics  and  develop 
ments,  and  upon  comparative  appearance.  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  get  authentic  information  from  the  natives, 
for  several  reasons.  So  that  in  most  instances,  the  his 
tory  of  this  specimen  or  that  cannot  be  given  much  farther 
back  than  the  time  of  its  coming  into  the  possession  of 
white  people.  There  are,  however,  certain  pieces  extant, 
known  to  date  well  back  into  the  eighteenth  century. 
Emmons  mentions  such  a  basket,  preserved  at  a  certain 
tribal  headquarters  among  the  Tlingit.  From  their  fra 
gile  quality,  the  Aleut  baskets  would  be  of  shorter  life 
than  the  Tlingit,  except  in  the  case  of  the  little  "cigarette 
case,"  and  that  is  so  dainty  in  size  and  so  light  in  weight, 
and  is  instinctively  handled  with  so  much  more  care  than 
any  of  the  other  types,  that  it  would  undoubtedly  attain 
much  greater  age.  Of  both  the  Tlingit  and  the  Aleut, 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  they  are  created  in  a 
cold,  damp  climate,  particularly  the  latter.  In  their 
native  environment  they  are  flexible,  strong  and  tough, 
capable  of  withstanding  a  surprising  amount  of  heavy 
rough  use.  In  the  dry  heat  of  civilized  homes,  they 
require  far  more  gentle  handling. 

4.  Kuskokwim.  The  people  of  the  fourth  division, 
Bristol  Bay  and  the  Kuskokwim  River,  use  a  coarse  grass, 
unsplit,  and  produce  a  flexible  woven  basket  that  is  inter 
esting  but  not  particularly  ornamental,  and  not  to  be 
compared  in  quality  with  either  the  Tlingit  or  the  Aleut 
work.  It  is  done  in  the  close  plain  twine,  but  either  the 
texture  of  the  grass,  or  some  personal  equation  in  the 
handling  of  it,  gives  to  the  finished  basket  a  distinct 

Forty-three 


character,  quite  unlike  any  close  plain  twine  grass  basket 
made  to  the  south  or  west.  The  base  is  frequently  oval 
instead  of  circular.  The  grass  is  cured  to  a  dull  brown 
ish  shade,  very  different  from  the  clear  pale  gold  of  the 
best  Aleut  work.  Near  the  top,  some  of  the  woof  strands 
show  a  dark  brown  color,  and  are  used  in  alternation, 
like  the  Tlingit  strawberry  weave,  or  in  pairs  to  produce 
a  solid  line  of  color.  By  this  simple  means,  neat  little 
decorative  bands  in  the  plainest  of  conventional  designs 
are  worked  in  the  fabric.  The  finish  at  the  top  consists 
of  a  turning  down  of  the  warp,  it  being  then  worked  in 
under  the  next  and  last  line  of  woof;  but  the  ends  are 
usually  rather  long,  and  the  finish  has  a  somewhat  ragged 
look  on  the  wrong  side.  These  baskets  are  not  an  article 
of  commerce  with  the  white  people  to  any  extent,  because 
they  do  not  come  to  the  attention  of  the  basket-buying 
tourist,  and  because  if  they  did,  he  would  prefer  the 
Tlingit  work  with  its  gay  colors.  Furthermore,  while 
the  skins  of  birds,  animals  and  fish  enter  to  a  large 
extent  into  the  handicraft  of  all  the  native  peoples  of 
Alaska,  such  materials  begin  to  occupy  a  larger  place, 
at  this  point  on  the  map,  than  they  do  to  the  south  and 
east,  and  baskets,  to  a  quite  appreciable  extent,  give  way 
to  bags  of  skin.  Therefore  fewer  baskets  are  made,  and 
they  are  rarely  seen  away  from  their  native  locality. 
Nevertheless  any  representative  collection  of  Alaska  work 
should  contain  some  of  them. 

It  is  at  about  this  point,  also,  that  the  coiled  method 
begins  to  appear  in  Alaska  basketry.  And  I  have  ob 
served  that  in  the  last  twelve  years,  this  method  has 
gained  great  popularity  in  the  Kuskokwim  region.  It 
is  easier  and  more  rapid,  and  gives  greater  durability 

Forty -four 


than  the  woven  method;  and  the  material  is  suitable  to 
it.  So  that  of  late,  hundreds  of  these  coiled  baskets,  of 
all  sizes,  are  brought  out  each  season  by  the  cannery  ten 
ders,  and  may  be  found  even  in  the  department  stores. 
They  are  usually  bowl  shaped,  or  globe  shaped,  and  are 
scantily  decorated  with  bits  of  old  cloth,  yarn,  skin,  fur, 
etc.  Some  of  them  are  very  attractive;  but  the  buyer 
should  acquire  them  with  his  eyes  open,  exactly  as  he 
would  buy  a  Tlingit  basket  with  realistic  animal  figures 
upon  it. 

5.  Eskimo.  The  Eskimo  of  the  coast  from  Norton 
Sound  north,  and  east  along  the  Arctic,  have  no  timber 
at  their  disposal — only  the  coarse  grass  of  the  tundra. 
They  are  poor  basketmakers,  what  work  they  do  being 
a  rather  crude  coiled  product.  Their  real  art  is  in  the 
handling  of  skins,  and  in  the  carving  of  ivory  (walrus 
and  fossil)  and  bone.  In  their  basketry  they  use  a  bundle 
of  grass  stems  for  the  coil  foundation,  and  the  grass  blade 
for  the  stitching  element.  The  work  is  done  in  an  inter 
locking  stitch.  In  primitive  times,  a  bird  bone,  sharp 
ened  on  a  stone,  served  as  a  needle,  but  at  present  of 
course  darning  needles  are  easily  available.  Ornamenta 
tion  is  effected  by  the  use  of  strips  of  light-weight  hide, 
sometimes  with  the  fur  on  it,  or  skin  from  the  feet  of 
birds,  or  any  similar  material  that  appears  decorative  to 
the  Eskimo.  This  strip  is  laid  upon  the  foundation  coil, 
and  made  fast  by  being  included  under  the  stitching  for 
a  space.  It  is  then  laid  back  out  of  the  way,  while  the 
stitching  continues.  Again  it  is  laid  flat  on  the  coil  and 
worked  in  out  of  sight  for  whatever  space  suits  the 
weaver's  design.  Once  more  it  is  turned  aside  while  the 
coiling  continues  without  it,  and  again  it  is  coiled  under. 

Forty-five 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


Thus,  when  the  work  is  done,  the  strip  alternately  appears 
and  disappears,  like  ribbon  run  through  beading.  As 
beading  this  method  of  ornamentation  is  designated  by 
Dr.  Mason,  and  it  is  so  known  to  students  of  basketry. 
It  is  widely  distributed  among  basket-making  peoples. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  fact  that  the  growth 
of  a  market  sometimes  tends  to  improve  the  quality  of 
basketry  to  a  certain  extent.  Here  is  a  case  in  point. 
Of  late  years, — since  the  discovery  of  beach  gold  and  the 
founding  of  Nome  and  the  other  far  northern  camps, — 
the  Eskimo  has  come  into  constant  association  with  the 
white, people,  and  have  thus  seen  that  baskets  have  a 
commercial  value.  Accordingly,  they  are  making  more; 
and  with  practice,  because  they  were  poor  weavers  in  the 
first  place,  their  work  improves  on  its  technical  side.  The 
great  trouble  is,  that  in  such  cases  the  weavers  invariably 
introduce  other  "improvements"  along  with  that  in  exe 
cution,  and  that  the  baskets  in  a  few  years  cease  to  express 
any  phase  of  native  life  whatever,  (unless  it  be  the  quite 
natural  and  universal  one  of  a  desire  to  make  money,) 
and  so  have  no  ethnological  value. 

6.  Upper  Yukon.  The  Tanana  River,  and  the 
Yukon  above  it,  drain  a  country  of  spruce  and  tama 
rack  timber,  with,  of  course,  plenty  of  birch  and  willow. 
Therefore  it  follows  that  the  Tinne  or  Athapascan  peo 
ples  who  lived  there  used  these  materials  for  their  baskets. 
Except  in  the  case  of  the  birch  bark,  which  was  folded 
into  the  required  shape,  the  work  was  coiled.  Even  the 
birch  baskets  show  some  coiled  work,  in  the  method 
of  stitching  a  willow  shoot  around  the  top  for  greater 
strength  and  finish.  The  coiled  baskets  were  rigid  and 
water-tight,  practically  unornamented,  so  far  as  I  can 

Forty-s  even 


learn;  although  a  few  Hudson's  Bay  beads  were  some 
times  caught  on  the  stitching  of  those  not  expected  to 
stand  heat.  The  materials  included  spruce  root,  tama 
rack  root,  willow  root,  willow  twigs  and  birch  bark,  but 
these  people  were  never  basket-makers  to  the  extent  that 
the  Tlingit  were.  They  used  skins,  or  dishes  of  wood 
or  bark,  much  more  than  baskets,  and  good  specimens 
of  their  work  are  hard  to  find.  Their  netting  in  raw 
caribou  hide  was,  and  still  is,  very  clever,  and  took  the 
place  of  baskets  for  some  uses.  I  have  heard,  too,  of  a 
certain  deposit  of  clay  that  would  burn  into  pottery,  and 
was  so  used ;  but  have  never  had  the  opportunity  to  verify 
or  disprove  the  report.  It  is  the  only  mention  of  pottery 
that  I  have  heard  in  all  Alaska. 

7.  Lower  Yukon.  Along  the  Lower  Yukon,  three 
types  of  basket  were  made.  In  addition  to  the  coiled 
grass  basket  of  the  coast,  there  could  be  found  the  coiled 
root  or  willow  basket  like  those  of  the  interior.  And, 
too,  the  people  made,  and  still  make,  a  woven  basket 
exactly  similar  in  form,  material  and  weave  to  the  ordi 
nary  Tlingit  berry  basket.  The  colored  grass  decoration 
is  applied  in  precisely  the  same  way,  and  the  only  dif 
ference  discernible  is  in  the  design.  I  have  never  investi 
gated  the  origin  of  this  type,  so  that  I  do  not  know 
whether  it  was  borrowed  from  the  Tlingit,  or  whether  the 
Tlingit  method  is  a  growth  from  it.  This  is  a  question 
of  interest  for  future  research. 

Good  baskets  were  exchanged  commercially  through 
out  all  of  Alaska,  even  before  the  advent  of  the  white 
man  and  his  money,  and  the  fact  that  a  basket  was  found 
at  any  given  place,  is  not  proof  that  it  was  made  there. 
Frequently  its  origin  must  be  known  by  its  characteristics, 
and  its  presence  accounted  for. 

Forty-eight 


A  few  general  remarks  on  Alaska  basketry  can  take 
no  account  of  the  many  other  forms  of  native  handiwork; 
— the  strange  Chilkat  blankets  of  wild  goat  hair  and  cedar 
bark,  woven  in  weird  totemic  designs,  and  important  in 
ceremonial;  the  wonderfully  made,  almost  indestructible 
robes  of  eagle  down;  the  sinew-sewed  robes  of  fox  paws, 
of  various  furs  and  combinations  of  fur,  of  woven  goat 
hair,  embroidered  with  deer  toes  or  ptarmigan  feet;  the 
carvings  in  wood,  horn,  bone,  ivory,  stone  and  sometimes 
metal;  the  ancient  and  quite  effective  weapons;  the  prim 
itive  tools  and  utensils  of  everyday  life,  some  of  them 
better  suited  to  the  environment  than  anything  the  white 
man  has  been  able  to  substitute  for  them;  the  tribal  trays 
and  ceremonial  dishes;  the  burial  boxes;  the  paintings, 
grotesque  and  totemic,  like  the  blankets;  the  wrought 
copper  vessels,  formed  from  the  great  nuggets  of  native 
copper  that  used  to  be  found  sometimes  in  the  Copper 
River  country;  the  strange  combinations  of  skins,  and  of 
skins  and  weaving,  that  took  the  place  of  baskets  to  a 
large  extent  in  the  Arctic  regions;  or  of  that  most  fas 
cinating  subject,  the  canoe,  skin,  bark  or  wood,  according 
to  use,  tribe  and  locality. 

Included,  however,  under  the  head  of  basketry,  will 
be  many  developments  in  the  form  of  mats,  curtains, 
robes,  cushions,  sails,  trays, — any  needed  articles,  to  which 
the  woven  or  coiled  fabric  could  be  adapted. 

When  collected,  and  kept  in  the  dry  heat  of  our  homes 
or  museums,  these  baskets  require  some  care.  They 
should  be  disinfected,  to  begin  with,  and  after  that,  the 
wood-fiber  section  should  be  oiled  a  little.  The  grass 
pieces  are  the  better  for  exposure  to  dampness,  if  that 
does  not  involve  too  much  handling.  Dust  is  of  course 

Forty-nine 


undesirable,  but  less  so  that  perpetual  dusting!  The 
best  course  is  to  protect  them  from  dust,  and  then  let 
them  alone  to  a  reasonable  extent.  Above  all,  do  not  let 
over-enthusiastic  friends,  with  no  real  knowledge  of,  or 
love  for  them,  paw  them  over — I  think  that  just  about 
expresses  the  proceeding — by  way  of  showing  their 
interest  in  them  and  their  owner.  The  way  in  which 
well-meaning  people  will  sometimes  handle  rare  and  deli 
cate  baskets,  is  strikingly  like  the  manner  in  which  the 
baby  expresses  its  love  for  the  kitten. 


From  the  Collection  of  the  Author 


